Crossing the Line – Acts 5:1-11

by Pastor John Fredericksen

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Beginning in February 2011, former Bengals cheerleader and English teacher at Dixie Heights High School, Sarah Jones (27), had an intimate affair with 17-year-old Cody York. Both parties denied the relationship for several years and lied to police, school officials, the media, and their families. After months of deception, Sarah Jones admitted to the affair, saying, “It is wrong for a teacher to have any type of relationship that crosses the line with a student, there is no gray area… What I did was wrong. And I feel guilty…that other people were hurt in this…[including] our families having to go through this.”

It is true that a wife should submit herself to the will of her husband, who is the head of the household. However, there are instances when a wife should not obey her husband, and we have a biblical principle that makes this clear. In Acts Chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira sold a possession agreeing to keep a portion of it, while they told the Jewish apostles that they gave the entire amount. With a supernatural gift of knowledge, Peter rebuked the husband for lying to the Holy Ghost, and Ananias fell dead. Three hours later, Peter similarly rebuked Sapphira for agreeing with her husband to lie about this matter. Regardless of her husband’s decision to lie, Sapphira should have told the truth. Instead, she lied, also crossing the line of right into wrong. We see the same principle when Abimelech took Sarah as his wife, and Abraham lied saying she was only his sister. After God intervened to stop the process, Abimelech rebuked Sarah for not speaking up to clarify their true relationship. He told her, “he is to thee a covering of the eyes… and…thus she was reproved” (Genesis 20:16). The principle that guides a wife to follow God rather than the wishes of her husband is found in Acts 4:19. Peter declared, “…Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.” The obvious correct answer is that every believer must always obey God, even when it is different from what any man, or husband, demands.

Ladies, if you have a boyfriend, father, or husband who pushes you to engage in any kind of sin, you must obey God rather than man. Don’t cross the line from right into wrong. One’s obligation to God always trumps everything and everyone else.


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Start each day with short, devotional articles taken from the book Daily Transformation by Pastor John Fredericksen. As Pastor Fredericksen writes in the introduction:

"We welcome you, as you journey with us..., to not only learn information, but to benefit from examples of faith and failure, and seek to apply God’s Word to every day life. Together, let’s transition from only studying theories of doctrine, to applying God’s truths in a practical way every day. May God use these studies to help you find daily transformation."